Power Ballad

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A song by a band (typically, but not exclusively, a hard rock/heavy metal band) which is of a noticeably slower style than most of their fare. Sometimes overlaps with Black Sheep Hit, but this trope also covers songs that aren't necessarily popular. Can be be done to showcase their singer's voice.

A typical power ballad will open with a solo keyboard or acoustic guitar, with more instruments and more elaborate melodies brought in as the song progresses, building up to a dramatic finale. An electric guitar solo close to the halfway point is pretty much obligatory. The lyrics usually talk about love, but not always. If done wrong, power ballads are very susceptible to becoming Narm and called "cheesy" as a result; if done right, they can be powerful tear jerkers and be considered "epic".

A very common feature in the setlists of Hard Rock and Hair Metal bands in the Eighties, although they don't have a monopoly on the genre by any means.

Examples:

Although far from the type of band typically associated with the style, Air Supply's "Making Love Out Of Nothing At All" is very much a power ballad.

Although it's not an example, a lot of the musical ingredients of Power Ballads can be found in "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" by The Beatles, mainly in the heaviness of the backing Paul McCartney (on bass and keyboards) and Ringo Starr (on drums), and especially in both guitar solos by Eric Clapton.

McCartney's "Maybe I'm Amazed" also could be considered a Power Ballad ancestor.

The main trope codifiers are probably "In Trance" by Scorpions, and "Love to Love" by UFO. "In Trance" is the earliest example of the Scorpions' style of power ballad that was so popular during the 1980s, while "Love to Love" was the model for power ballads with lush arrangements, and had a very slow build-up. Triumph's "Lay it on the Line" is pretty much the blueprint for the hair band version of the power ballad, with its vocal harmonies and borderline-Marital Rape License lyrics, although Triumph themselves were not a hair band.

As for the rest of the Who's catalogue, "Love, Reign O'er Me" could also be considered an early precursor to this trope, although "Behind Blue Eyes" predates it by two years.

Seasons of Wither" is a good, and rather unusual, example from before they were slick.

The Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson duet "Don't You Wanna Stay," despite being a country song, oozes 1980s power ballad so strongly that one critic said it sounded like a lost collaboration between Bryan Adams and Heart.

Anthrax's "In The End", from Worship Music, which gets a bit heavier than your standard ballad, but whose lyrics tell a heartfelt song in honor of Dimebag Darrell and Ronnie James Dio. Ironically enough, much earlier in their career they also parodied power ballads with their Anti-Love Song "N.F.B. (Dallabnikufesin)".

Avenged Sevenfold have a couple on every album. "Warmness on the Soul" in Sounding the Seventh Trumpet, "I Won't See You Tonight, Part 1" in Waking the Fallen, "Seize the Day" in City of Evil, "Dear God" and "Gunslinger" in Avenged Sevenfold, "So Far Away" and "Victim" in Nightmare, "Crimson Day" and "Acid Rain" in Hail to the King, "Angels" and "Roman Sky" in The Stage. And then there is "Fiction", which drummer The Rev wrote just before his death, and doesn't feature a single note of guitar.

Chicago were kings when it came to power ballads, with "You're The Inspiration", "Hard Habit To Break", "If You Leave Me Now", "Will You Still Love Me?", and "Look Away" being the best examples and their most popular hits as well.

The Cruxshadows' songs of this type include "Walk Away" on Telemetry of a Fallen Angel, "Spectators" and "Go Away" on Wishfire, "A Stranger Moment" on Ethernaut, "Infinite Tear" and "Matchstick Girl" on As the Dark Against My Halo, and the acoustic version of "Winterborn".

The Dillinger Escape Plan have a few songs that could be considered their equivalent of this trope, although most of them are pretty heavy by the trope's standards. "Widower" is probably the best example.

While Disturbed lacks any of these in their discography, they did perform a Lighter and Softer acoustic version of their song "Remember" for the Music as a Weapon tour IV... which then steers right back to heavy in the last chorus.

DragonForce has one per album: "Starfire", "Dawn Over a New World", "Trail of Broken Hearts", "A Flame for Freedom", an acoustic version of "Seasons", "You're Not Alone" and "Silence".

Korean idol rock band FT Island are well-known for their rock ballads which generally consist of many high and/or Incredibly Long Note's courtesy of main vocalist Lee Hongki (and sometimes subvocalists Lee Jaejin and Song Seunghyun), melancholy piano and angsty electric guitars. Their most successful one is debut song "Lovesick" and others include "Distance", "Severely" and "Madly".

Future Pop artists usually do this at least once per album, such as Covenant's "Bullet" (from Northern Light), "The World is Growing Loud" (from Skyshaper) and "The Road"(Modern Ruin), VNV Nation's "Endless Skies" (from Matter + Form) and "Nova" (from Automatic), and Assemblage 23's "Old" (from Meta), "The Cruelest Year" (from Compass), and "Otherness" (from Bruise).

Goo Goo Dolls were an alternative rock band before crossing over with a string of them, such as "Iris", "Name", and "Black Balloon".

Green Day has had many: "Last Night on Earth", "Viva La Gloria", "Brutal Love", "The Forgotten", "Oh Love", "When It's Time", "Good Riddance", "Macy's Day Parade", and "Wake Me Up When September Ends", to name a few.

Guns N' Roses has the "Civil War" trilogy ("November Rain", "Don't Cry" and "Estranged") and "Patience" (although the latter, originally acoustic, is played electrically in live concerts).

Hammerfall's "Glory to the Brave," "Always Will Be," and "Send Me a Sign."

Heart's "Alone", "What About Love?", "These Dreams", and many other songs they made during the mid-to-late Eighties.

Helalyn Flowers' "Utopia" and "I Saved an Angel".

Helloween's "A Tale That Wasn't Right", "In the Middle of a Heartbeat", "Forever and One" and "Light the Universe".

Meat Loaf has several, including "I'd Lie for You (and That's the Truth)," "For Crying Out Loud," and "It's All Coming Back To Me Now." Indeed, his style of performance tends to turn any song into this trope.

Mr. Big's number one hit "To Be With You" was probably the last really successful hair metal power ballad.

My Chemical Romance had one on almost every album: "The Ghost of You", "Welcome to the Black Parade", "Disenchanted", "I Don't Love You", "Cancer", "The World is Ugly", and "The Light Behind Your Eyes". Their last released song, "Fake Your Death", was also one.

Nickelback - "Never Gonna Be Alone" and "Far Away" both have many elements of a classic power ballad (acoustic intro, intensity builds, lyrics about love).

It's been stated that the first rule of Oasis' singles discography is "for every rock out, there must be a heartbreaking follow-up." Examples include "Live Forever," "Wonderwall," "Stop Crying Your Heart Out," and "I'm Outta Time."

"War" the sweeping epic devotional about unexpectedly finding someone you could fight a common enemy with, also in Alan Wake but credited (even in an in-game cameo) as a Poets song.

Queen had "Save Me", "Jealousy", "All Dead, All Dead". "White Queen (As It Began), "We Are The Champions", "Lily Of The Valley". "Sail Away Sweet Sister", "Las Palabras De Amor", "Teo Toriatte", "Is This The World We Created?", "Who Wants To Live Forever" and "These Are The Days Of Our Lives", to name a few.

Rednex of "Cotton-Eyed Joe" fame has "Wish You Were Here" and "Hold Me for a While".

REO Speedwagon proved capable of truly Epic Rocking before The '80s set in (see "Riding The Storm Out"), but their first two #1 hits in the United States fall under this category: "Keep On Loving You" and "Can't Fight This Feeling."

Aside of "In Trance", Scorpions had "Still Loving You" and "Wind of Change," and "Believe In Love." Probably also "Send me an Angel."(no relation to the synthpop song by Real Life)

Post-grunge metal band Seether covered George Michael's "Careless Whisper" in this manner.

"When I'm With You" by Sheriff. A minor hit in 1983, it was re-released and hit #1 in 1989, four years after the band had broken up. After lead singer Freddy Curci and guitarist Steve DeMarchi unsuccessfully tried to talk the others into reuniting, they grabbed some ex-members of Heart and formed Alias. Their biggest hit, "More Than Words Can Say" (not to be confused with Extreme's "More Than Words") could serve as the textbook example of a Power Ballad.

Sigh's "Requiem - Nostalgia" could be considered a Black Metal take on this trope, though by the standards of most other genres it would be too heavy to be considered a ballad, thanks to the Metal Scream. It is, of course, subverted in Sigh's inimitable fashion when it ends with a Standard Snippet (Fryderyk Chopin's Minute Waltz, to be precise) overlaid with hundreds of samples of giggling babies.

Simple Plan has a song titled "Untitled" (alternatively, How Could This Happen To Me).

Trance act Solarstone has "Filoselle Skies" on Rain Stars Eternal; and "There's a Universe" on Touchstone.

Sonata Arctica has lots, such as "Tallulah", "Draw Me" and "The Misery". Some fans complain that too many of them are played at concerts.

Theocracy has "Sinner" and everything before the solo in "The Gift of Music". "Drown" could also count.

American rock and borderline Hair Metal band Steelheart recorded multiple power ballads, such as "I'll Never Let You Go (Angel Eyes)," and "She's Gone (Lady)." These are particularly noteworthy for showcasing lead singer Miljenko Matijevic's phenomenal vocal range, with a clear and powerful upper register.

Versailles has at least one power ballad per album: "The Love from a Dead Orchestra" on Lyrical Sympathy, "windress" on Noble, "Amorphous" and "Serenade" on JUBILEE, and "DESTINY -The Lovers-" and "Remember Forever" on Holy Grail. The Japaneseversion of "Love will be born again" is also a power ballad (the original English version is just a ballad).

X Japan has "Endless Rain," "Voiceless Screaming," "Say Anything," "Crucify My Love," "Forever Love," and "Without You." "Jade," at least in its current form, straddles the line between Power Ballad and a heavier rock song.

"Endless History", the ending credits theme from the Ys anime, which is also a vocal remix of "The Morning Glow" from the first game.

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